Health, Life, and Balance
at Prospect Park this Sunday, January 16 from 10:00am-4:00pm. You can donate old laptops, cellphones, keyboards, TV’s and more. This small act can help keep lots of crap out of our landfill like lead, cadmium and mercury. Plus, come April 11 it will be illegal for New Yorkers to throw out electronics in the trash. So avoid future felonious acts and take your e-booty to 3rd Street & Prospect Park West. This event is brought to you by the good people at the Lower East Side Ecology Center.
Want to have the bomb community garden this year? Bronx Green-Up is offering a “Grow More Vegetables” Certificate Program at the New York Botanical Garden. Six classes in organic growing techniques, composting, seeding and much more. Classes will be held Wednesdays from February 16-March 23 from 6-8:30pm. Contact Sara Katz at bronxgreenupATnybg.org for details and an application. Applications are due February 4, good luck!
How does your body tell you it’s time to slow down? Often, when I am doing way too much and am in a ‘go-go-go’ state of mind I ignore taking care of myself in order to cross things off my list. If I keep this up for too long, my body will immediately send me a message. This message comes in the form of an illness or injury of some sort and then I am forced to stop. S-T-O-P. This can be difficult to do, especially if you live in a city environment. I try (really hard) not to push past it and listen to what’s going on. In the end, I find there is always a valuable lesson to be learned. Try it sometime and see what you tune into. (Note to my hip-hop heads: Yes, I know this song is about crack addicts and prostitutes but can you think of a better chorus for my post?)
We’re almost to the end! (Well, we’re already past the end, but you know what I mean) Parsnips were a new addition in Week 18. These are an excellent staple for your vegetable stock! Also in Week 18: (clockwise from top left, kinda) butternut squash, apples, mixed greens, kale, rainbow chard, potatoes, jamaican hot peppers, green peppers, tomatoes, carrots, onions and acorn squash.
This October, Conuco Farm and Evolutionary Organics were struck by a devastating fire, losing a season’s worth of storage crops, farm equipment, and personal belongings. Join us for three upcoming fundraisers to help rebuild what was lost so these farms can grow for many seasons to come.
Friday, December 10, 2010, 8pm
Auction at “A Year at Rooftop Farm” Exhibition
6pm-11pm (auction begins at 8pm)
The Commons: 388 Atlantic Avenue, Brooklyn, NY
Do your holiday shopping at our auction! Live music, food & drinks.
Want to donate something to the auction? Contact us at bedstuycsa@gmail.com
Sunday, December 12, 2010, 7pm
Benefit Dinner at Palo Santo Restaurant
652 Union Street, Brooklyn, NY
$75 per person
Latin cuisine with wine pairings
Purchase ticket now
Tuesday, December 14, 2010, 7pm
Benefit Dinner at iCi Restaurant
246 Dekalb Avenue, Brooklyn, NY
$75 per person
Seasonal cuisine with beer & wine
Purchase tickets now
A good friend put me on to “Animal, Vegetable, Miracle” when she learned of my growing interest in seasonal and local eating. I’ve read a few of Barbara Kingsolver’s novels and enjoy her work. In this book, she shares her and her family’s adventure of deciding to grow and preserve most of their own food. What I like most about Kingsolver is how she always keeps it 100. Yes, she talks about the pleasures and beauty of local eating AND also the sweaty mess of canning tomatoes in August AND the eventual bloodbath of DIY turkey-raising. Her husband Steven. L. Hopp gives the low-down on food politics x environment x social justice and daughter Camille provides tasty recipes. (love that veggie chili) This book is a great read and who else but Kingsolver can wax eloquent about asparagus like this: “The fresh stems have the tight, shiny sex appeal of dressed-up matrons on the dance floor of a Latin social club..”
I am way behind on my CSA posts (considering my last pick up was 2 weeks ago) so without further ado, I bring you Week 17 aka Autumn has arrived. In Week 17’s share: big bunch of soybeans (yes!), turkish turban squash, apples, kale, mixed greens, rainbow chard, tomatoes, beans, carrots, potatoes, green peppers, pears, garlic and parsnips. The soybeans were a tasty treat, they are delicious raw. They reminded me of driving through Rajasthan where you could pull over and buy a big bunch from the local farmer’s kids.
Are you a Farmer’s Market devotee? Does everyone sweat your culinary creations? Then you need to enter to win $1000 in Epicurious.com’s 15th Anniversary Home Cook Recipe contest. Click here for details and hurry! The deadline for entries is 11:00am est on November 29, 2010. Good luck!
Photograph by Alice Alves
Last week was National Grains Week at the Union Square Greenmarket. To celebrate, I collaborated with Susan of Oak Grove Plantation and created a recipe with her Whole Wheat Flour, which she had milled that Tuesday. You are not going to get anything that fresh at the supermarket! Click on the link for the recipe.. Continue reading ‘Greenmarket Chef Demo’